Yesterday, I took care of lots of business (mmm, health insurance!) and found out that I have been officially approved for my new apartment, near 30th and St. Paul in Charles Village, in the form of a lease in my email. HuzzaH.

I then went to see Single Carrot’s SLAMPOONED the second time, followed by a “slamback” where Baltimore slam poets, many of whom were associated with Baltimore’s long-running Slamicide poetry event, performed after the show.

Baltimore’s individual champion poet was there – they are trying to raise money to send him to the worlds in Berkeley. He performed a hilarious boy-meets-girl, boy-screws-girl, boy-breaks-up-with-girl-because-she-gave-him-an STD crowd-pleaser, entirely written in references to computer and Internet technology. I can’t remember the lines exactly, but it was like, “Baby, you cheated on me with a Mac?? And you didn’t use a firewall??” It was really good. I’m not conveying it adequately.

Slamicide is seeking a new venue – many of the folks at the show last night suggested the newly opened Cyclops Books down the street. Cyclops is a music, poetry, and bookselling venue at Maryland and North.

I stood outside their front door with a Louisiana musician who said his name was Traveler for about an hour before SLAMPOONED last night. He held the door for a stream of men with amplifiers, while, one hundred feet to our left, a sixteen-year-old girl was getting arrested. Traveler is on his way to Florida for awhile, to record a new album. We exchanged road woes stories and hoped the girl would get let go.

My favorite Cyclops dialogue:

A (to a large man wearing an undershirt): Are you with the band?
B: No, I’m with the strippers.

All this is to say that I think it’d be a great place for a Baltimore poetry slam…and conveniently located ten blocks or so from my new Appartement.

This Morning, someone outside my window is honking like they are getting paid for it. In a few hours, after the obligatory watering of the plants, I and friends are going to see Harry Potter (which Anthony Lane didn’t like, but I’m not going to let that stop me) and then road-tripping to DC for two Capital Fringe shows. It’s my first time in the nation’s capital. I do think it’s appropriate that all I’m doing is seeing theater. (I’m trying to send a message.)